Beneath the Surface
by Jay Navi
Summary: Kaioru Matonima is visiting a school fair, when he picks up a toy robot. He soon finds that the toy robot is not a toy at all. The robot can transform into a shield and what's more there are three more of it! Kaioru and his friends must now save the world
1. Prologue

--------------  
A/N: Hello. First of all, I'd like to say to everyone "sorry for keeping you waiting on my story 'The Fountain' and for those of you who read my other story 'It's All Business'." I do have plans on continuing those. I just need to think of stuff to write for them and also, to get "The Fountain" onto my Word Processor because that's what I'm using now. Anyway, I'd like to give a huge shout-out and thank you to my friend Chi over at the Team FourStar forums-go there and sign up (and while you're there, check out the episodes page) [www. tfsabridged. com/forums-remove the spaces]. He helped me come up with the title of this story and also some character's names. I'd also like to extend a thank you to MasterLink and Rubenix there for their ideas. That said, I bring you my latest story, "Beneath the Surface". Oh, one more thing: I'd like to thank everyone for sticking with me. Also, I'm not sure but I don't think this will contain shonen-ai-I haven't gotten that far as of yet.  
--------------

Prologue

I couldn't do anything right. Nothing. I had a responsibility to protect my friends and I failed. I sat alone in a room where it felt like somebody was watching me. Somebody _was_ watching me. That somebody, was me.

Yes, I was watching myself. How? The room I was sitting in was a room of mirrors. Nobody else was in the room. Just me and my reflections.

I should be thanking whoever put me in this room. I finally have the time to look at myself. I can finally see how much of a failure I am. My reflections show it clearly. I thought I was strong, but I'm just a weak little boy.

_Kyle._

A voice? Where was it coming from? Was it inside my head? Was I going crazy from being in this solitary room too long?

_Kyle!_

There it was again. I figured it couldn't be in my head. No, I wasn't _that_ crazy. The voice was coming from outside the room.

"Who's there!?" I shouted. Nobody answered. Instead, they just called my name again.

_KYLE!_

"WHAT!?" I screamed, "What do you want from me!?"

Again, they didn't answer. I didn't hear my name again. Maybe they left? No, I heard the voice again. However, it said something different this time.

_He's in here!_ It said. _Hurry up and bring that key!_

I heard metal scraping. Then a click. Finally, as light slowly filled the dark, lonely room, there was creaking. A figure stood in the light.


	2. In the Beginning

In the Beginning…

My name is Kaioru Matonima. I'm 12 years old and I'm a really good actor. Everyone calls me "Kyle" because that's what my name sounds like. I don't mind it, but it gets a little difficult responding to "Kyle" and "Kaioru"- my parents still call me "Kaioru".

Anyway, I have a pretty cool story to tell you. I know what you're going to be thinking afterwards, "That story is so cool. How'd you come up with it?" Well, the answer I have to that is, it really happened. Seriously! The story begins one day at class…

I was sitting at my desk, looking out the window, while the Class Representative, Kisara Wasaru, stood at the front of the class talking about something. I caught the words, "Festival" and "research". Which, according to Kisara, means "See how other schools do their festivals and copy them exactly". It's a wonder how our class got any funding considering we just steal other schools ideas and pass them off as our own. Leave it to Kisara to do that. Huh. Maybe she should be the one with the talent in acting.

"Matonima."

I snapped back to reality and stood up. I knew Kisara had something planned for me. Ever since I got to know her, she always had something planned for me. Despite the fact that we've known each other since we started school, she always singled me out.

"Y-Yes, Class Rep?" I said.

"The class has elected you to do the research. The school that has so generously asked to be researched is Kotonima High School. Our class is in charge of the games."

Translated into normal speak, that means "Kyle, I'm forcing you to attend the school festival put on by Kotonima High School. See what games they have, what prizes they have and don't have fun. When you come back, give me your notes and we'll copy the games with a little twist." What that 'little twist' is, changes every year. Or every idea she gets. Whichever comes first.

I couldn't argue with the class rep, so I simply said, "Yes, Class Rep." and sat back down. Why did she always do this to me? There are other people who _don't_ have activities after class. Sometimes, I think she's just out to get me.

When the bell rang to end school, one of my friends came up to me. His name was Yoshi. Actually, it was Yoshiki Kitase but everyone just called him "Yoshi". He sometimes gets bullied because of his name but I'm not sure why. Anyway, Yoshi started talking to me about something but my mind was focused on the school festival I was going to later in the week. At least, I thought it was later in the week.

"… And that's why you shouldn't put this off like most of your other school projects." Yoshi finished saying.

"Hm? I'm sorry, man, I didn't catch that. What did you say?" I asked.

Yoshi slapped his face and said, "Look, I know you put off everything that isn't acting until the last minute. But," he paused for dramatic effect-he probably thought _he_ was the actor-"Kotonima High School is famous for their one night school festivals." Another pause, he was probably trying to make sure I was listening-which I was, mostly-"And that's why you shouldn't put this off like most of your other school projects."

"Ok, I'll go to the festival tomorrow night and tell you how it is. Bye."

I ran off but I heard Yoshi say, "Dude, you are so dead." Or something like that. I didn't really hear him because I was out side the door of class.

It was a long walk home and I decided to walk by where the festival was supposed to be. As I walked by, I saw people already there. I thought they might be setting things up at the last minute, so I didn't pay any real attention to where I was going. I stepped on something and lost my footing. It hurt when my face met the inevitable concrete of the sidewalk.

I got up on my knees and looked around to see what I had stepped on. Right beside me was a little pink toy robot. I wanted to pick it up and toss it onto the grass, but the look in its dark yellow eyes seemed sad. I knew I had to be imagining things. After all, it was just a toy that some little girl probably dropped. So, I decided to take it home and put up "lost" posters around the area the next day.

"I'm home!" I said as I walked through the front door of the house.

"How was school?" A soft voice asked, "Get any homework?"

"School was fine, mom," I replied, "No, I didn't get any homework but Kisara's making me go to this silly school festival tomorrow night."

"Oh? Which school? Is it a date?" Mom was known for her interrogating questions. It was like she was a member of the Japanese Secret Police Force questioning an informant about the location of a Yakuza boss.

"It's being put on by Kotonima and no, mom, it isn't a date. I'm going by myself."

"Kotonima? Like, the school that famous for one night festivals?"

"Yeah, why? What's wrong?"

"Well, in the paper today, it says that the festival is tonight." Mom put down the newspaper on the table. She was right, as always. The paper said "The Kotonima High School Festival will take place on the 20th of April." I guess it qualifies as news for two reasons: the first reason is because the festival normally takes place on the 21st and he second reason is because our town is so small, nothing ever happens.

The second reason is true because every other day, they'll have an article on "How to Make Your Sushi the Best Tasting Sushi in all of Japan" or "Hardware Store Just Got a New Shipment of Screwdrivers". Actually, in today's paper, there's those two exact articles. If any of my classmates were part of the newspaper club, as everyone called them, they could find better stories than these.

Anyway, I put my head down on the table because I really didn't want to go. Maybe I could call Kisara up and tell her that I broke my leg and can't go. It almost happened. In fact: I might even get a concussion from hitting the concrete so hard.

"Kaioru, tables are for food, not for heads." Mom said in her sweet, yet scornful tone.

"I know, mom." I said with my head still on the table, "I'll be in my room until the festival starts."

I picked my head off the table and walked up the stairs to my room. I had carried my backpack up with me and set that on my bed. A short second later, I flopped down beside it. I looked over at it and saw the pink robot looking at me.

I took the little toy out of my backpack and sat up. I examined it, turning it around in my hands. Wondering if it made any sounds or talked, I looked for any kind of button. However, I didn't see one. It didn't look special and it certainly didn't feel special. Heck, it didn't even make any sounds.

"What a piece of junk," I said under my breath.

_Don't be so quick to count me out._

I jumped, startled. Where did that voice come from? Who said it? Was it Yoshi trying to prank me? Or was it Kisara trying to scare me into going to the festival?

No. It didn't sound like either of them. I looked down at the toy. There was nothing out of the ordinary about it. Perhaps I was going crazy. Or maybe it was Yoshi or Kisara and they were using one of those cheap voice-modifiers you buy at the hardware store.

I got up from my bed and set the toy on my desk. Then went down for dinner. Mom usually called me, but I didn't really want to stick around in my room on the off chance that I'd hear the voice again.

After dinner, I went to the festival. Of course, I took the necessities with me: a pencil and paper. If Kisara was your Class Rep for 3 years in a row, you'd know that those are the necessities to her. I walked around the festival going to the various game booths, asking what their game was called and how it was played.

After I had everything down on my paper, I decided to enjoy myself a little. I know that Kisara's definition of "research" doesn't include fun, or for that matter the word "fun" is nowhere to be found in her dictionary, but that wouldn't stop me. When she gets her little cronies, aka me, to do research, she hardly shows up to the events herself.

While I was walking to one of the game booths I had written down, something caught the corner of my eye. It was a kid with red hair, about a year younger than me, being pushed around by some kids just older than me. I didn't recognise the kid, and I don't normally make it my business to interfere in fights, but I just had this feeling that I should help him.

I was known in school for getting into fights with older kids but I didn't start them. Sure I got blamed for starting them, and I even got detention once in a while, but they were all for good reasons. I took some judo classes in the summer before I got into acting so, I can defend myself pretty well.

"Hey." I said as I walked over to them.

"Get lost, punk. We're trying to teach this kid a lesson." One of the bullies said.

"Look, I don't know why you're 'trying to teach him a lesson', but don't you think it'd be better if you just talked it out?"

This was answered by a kick to my stomach. It hurt a bit, but not as much as the sidewalk earlier. I straightened and got into a fighting stance. The bullies were three in numbers and I was only one, so I figured they would try to gang up on me. I don't think they heard about my reputation. Or, if they had heard, they either didn't recognise me or didn't care.

"Heheh. This little punk thinks he can beat us." One of the bullies said.

"Why don't we teach him a lesson first and then get back to that other kid?" The first one suggested.

They came at me and I dodged them. Well, two of them, anyway. The third one grabbed me and told the other two to punch freely and as hard as they can. The bully had me by the arms so I used my feet to kick one of the approaching bullies in the face. It left a distinct shoe mark.

The one that was holding me tried to grab my feet as well, but that only resulted in his fingers getting crushed or his gut getting heeled. At the latter, he let go of me to hold where my heel had made contact. As soon as he let go, the one that I hadn't injured threw a punch at me. I blocked it and landed a solid punch to his face. That guy was out and there remained two more.

They tried to surround me as best they could. However, they made a mistake. And that mistake was that they threw a punch as hard as they could at the same time. I ducked and they hit each other. Obviously, bullies aren't the smartest of species.

A few seconds later, I felt two hands around my arms. I looked up and saw that two police officers had come and saw me fight the three bullies. I guess they didn't see that the bullies had knocked each other out. Or maybe they thought I had lured them to do it. Either way, they 'escorted' me to their car and drove me to the station.

I sat in a holding room for a few hours. Nobody had spoken a word to me since they put me in here. They were probably checking my background and saw a record of my fights. Finally, the door opened and the kid that I had saved from those bullies stood there with an officer. I stood up and he bowed in a polite manner. I returned the bow.

"Thank you for saving me from those three bullies," he said, "My name is Tominoru Hideko, but everyone calls me Toru."

"Uh, my name is Kaioru Matonima," I said, but everyone calls me Kyle. Wait. You said your name was Tominoru Hideko?"

"Yes."

"As in, the Hideko Group? That famous manufacturing company?"

"Mmhm." He nodded.

"You're serious?"

"Yeah."

I could not believe it. I had saved the son of one of the most rich, famous, and powerful families in Japan.

----------  
A/N: Yes, I'm aware that it says April 20 in this chapter. No, that is not a 4/20 reference. Thank you.  
----------


End file.
